Eric G. Matthews 1932-2022

Dr. Eric Matthews

Eric Matthews was born in 1932 in France, of American parents. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree at Columbia University, New York in 1953 and his Ph.D. degree from Cornell University, New York in 1960. He had a Post-doctoral Fellowship at Harvard University in 1960. Dr. Matthews was a Lecturer in Zoology at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, from 1961-1969 and a visiting lecturer at the Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Mexico City, in 1964. He migrated to Australia and in 1972 became a citizen there. He is Curator of Insects at the South Australian Museum, a post he has held since 1970.

His research interests have been the taxonomy of dung beetles (Scarabaeidae) (through 1975) and darkling beetles (Tenebrionidae) since that time, as well as ecology, historical biogeography, evolution theory, and conservation. He retired from his position as Curator of Insects at the South Australian Museum in 2000, a post he held since 1970.

Eric Matthews obituary

PUBLICATIONS:

1. 1959 (with G. Halffter). Nuevas especies mexicanas de Copris (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Ciencia (Mexico) 18: 191-204.

2. 1959. Nueva especie de Copris (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) y clave para la determinación de las especies mexicanas del genero. Ciencia (Mexico) 19: 133-136.

3. 1962. A revision of the genus Copris Muller of the Western Hemisphere (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Entomologica Americana 41: 1-139.

4. 1963. Observations on the ball-rolling behavior of Canthon pilularius (L.) (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Psyche 70: 75-93.

5. 1963. Description of the larva and pupa of Cathochilum histeroides (Harold) with notes on its biology (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Coleopterists' Bulletin 17:110-116.

6. 1965. The taxonomy, geographical distribution, and feeding habits of the canthonines of Puerto Rico (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 91:431-465.

7. 1966 (with F. de Zayas). Revisión de los cantoninos de Cuba (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) con la descripción de seis nuevas especies. Poeyana (La Habana), ser. A, No. 14:1-24.

8. 1966. A taxonomic and zoogeographic survey of the Scarabaeinae of the Antilles (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Memoirs of the American Entomological Society, No. 21:1-312.

9. 1966 (with G. Halffter). The natural history of dung beetles of the subfamily Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Folia Entomologica mexicana, Nos 12-14: 1-312. Reprinted in 1999 by Medical Books di G. Cafaro, Palermo, with foreword by Mario Zunino.

10. 1968 (with G. Halffter). New data on American Copris with discussion of a fossil species (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Ciencia (Mexico) 26:147-162.

11. 1969. New data on Antillean scarabaeine beetles, and two new species fom Hispaniola. Psyche 76: 114-125.

12. 1971 (with G. Halffter). The natural history of dung beetles. A supplement on associated biota. Revista latino-americana de Microbiologia 13:147-164.

13. 1972. A revision of the scarabaeine dung beetles of Australia. I. Tribe Onthophagini. Australian Journal of Zoology, Supplementary Series No. 9:1-330.

14. 1973 (with R. M. Emberson). Introduced Scarabaeinae (= Coprinae) (Coleoptera) in New Zealand. The New Zealand Entomologist 5:346-350.

15. 1974. A revision of the scarabaeine dung beetles of Australia. II. Tribe Scarabaeini. Australian Journal of Zoology, Supplementary Series No. 24:1-211.

16. 1976. A revision of the scarabaeine dung beetles of Australia. III. Tribe Coprini. Australian Journal of Zoology, Supplementary Series No. 38:1-52.

17. 1976. La biogeografía ecológica de los escarabajos del estiércol. Acta politécnica mexicana 16: 89-98.

18. 1984. 'A Guide to the Genera of Beetles of South Australia.' Part 3 (Eucinetoidea, Dascilloidea and Scarabaeoidea). Special Educational Bulletin Series, South Australian Museum. Pp. 1-60, 100 figs.

19. 1986 (with Z. Stebnicka). A review of Demarziella Balthasar with a transfer from Aphodiinae to Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae). Australian Journal of Zoology 34:449-461.

20. Matthews, E. G. and Weir, T. 2002. Two new species of the genus Lepanus Balthasar from South Australia (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae). Records of the South Australian Museum 35(1): 79–84.